


Intro // Skydiving

by inoubliable



Series: Skin&Earth [1]
Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: (mention of), Boys Being Boys, Eddie-centric, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, No Angst, Period-Typical Homophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-19
Updated: 2017-10-19
Packaged: 2019-01-20 00:26:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12421278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inoubliable/pseuds/inoubliable
Summary: Eddie Kaspbrak is ten years old. It's his first time at the quarry with his friends.--The descent feels like it lasts both for a few seconds and for eternity. Free fall is terrifying, but his hand is still latched onto Richie's, and it tethers him, makes him feel like he isn't just lost in space.





	Intro // Skydiving

**Author's Note:**

> "It all starts here,  
> with a rush of blood to the head."  
> -[Skydiving](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jgnfCUSL2M), Lights

Eddie Kaspbrak is ten years old.

It's the first day of summer after fourth grade, and all of Derry seems to be excited about it, a feeling that spreads through town as persistently and pervasively as the sunshine. Even Sonia Kaspbrak is in rare form, allowing Eddie to join his friends at the quarry with only the most minimal of lectures and a warning not to touch that "filthy water."

Eddie doesn't want to disobey his mom; it's just that sometimes he forgets how to be good when he's with his friends. Big Bill Denbrough wouldn't do anything _that_ bad, right? He's one of the good guys. And so is Stanley Uris, who is so clean and particular about things that it doesn't make any sense for the quarry to be filthy, not if he's playing in it. And even Richie Tozier isn't _bad_ , for the most part, as long as his mouth is shut.

(Thing is, Richie's mouth is never shut, so maybe that's not a fair assessment.)

But the point is, Eddie doesn't plan to get into the water. He doesn't even bring his swim trunks. Not that it matters -- neither did the other boys. They strip down to their underwear right in front of Eddie's eyes, not at all ashamed of their pale skin and scrawny bodies, and all three of them look at Eddie expectantly when he doesn't make a move to join them.

"Oh," he says, a little stupidly. "I didn't-"

"Y-You're not s-s-swimming?" Bill asks, like that wasn't an option he had ever considered before. Eddie hasn't ever joined them at the quarry. His mother isn't like Bill's parents, who trust him implicitly, or Richie's, who largely ignore him, or even Stan's, who just seem normal. His mother is protective. She hardly lets him out of the house. If she wasn't so invested in her daytime soaps, Eddie is pretty sure she would school him at home.

"Look at this sucker," Richie laughs, and puts on a loud, grandiose Voice, one that sounds kind of like an overly enthused baseball announcer. That is, if Richie Tozier was the one doing the announcing. Richie's Voices never really sound like anyone other than himself. "Edward Kaspbrak, up to bat, but refusing to take off his clothes! What's he hiding under there? Is he deformed? Is he an alien? It would explain a few things!"

"Beep beep, Richie," Stan and Eddie say at the same time, with Bill chiming in a second too late because he gets stuck on the first syllable.

"You don't h-have to," Bill continues after Richie obediently clicks his mouth shut. "We c-cuh-could do s-something else."

"Something else?" Richie bursts out, incredulous, because even a second of personal silence is too much for him. His arms flail dramatically. Everything Richie Tozier does is dramatic. "We've been planning this for weeks!"

"We have all summer," Stan points out.

"But we're here now!" Richie gesticulates wildly in Eddie's direction. "We can't just bail because he's scared! No guts, no glory!"

Something about ruining their fun makes Eddie feel hot and prickly and ashamed. Richie will never let him hear the end of it if he doesn't get in the water. Besides, the sun is beating down and the water looks refreshing. It even looks kind of clean. Almost.

Eddie stands and yanks his shirt over his head, not gracefully but a little vicious. Richie whoops, delighted, and darts in while Eddie is still shaking himself out of one sleeve, pinching at his side playfully. "Would you look at that! He's not deformed at all!" Eddie bats him away and frees himself from his pants, standing defiantly before his friends in bright white underwear that still smell a little like bleach. His mother says Clorox is the only thing that gets rid of all the germs, especially "down there, where you're the dirtiest."

Eddie doesn't want to think about his mom. "Who's first?" he asks, peering over the edge where the water glistens some ten feet below. It's not the biggest drop the quarry has to offer, not by far, but to his young mind the water looks a hundred miles away. His bravado is waning, and he hopes they don't make him go first.

But of course strong, brave Bill flashes them all a smile and takes off, yelling wildly as his running start vaults him over the edge, a smooth arc of flailing limbs and laughter. Eddie holds his breath, watching Bill's descent until he splashes beneath the surface, and only releases it when Bill comes up, shaking water out of his eyes.

"C-come on!" he shouts, and Stan obeys, joining him with a fall that is much more graceful and much less noisy.

Richie and Eddie are left, trading a look with one another. Richie's smile is carefree and reckless, and Eddie is sure his is tight and strained by comparison. He's nervous. About the fall, sure, but also that Richie will make fun of him again, and Bill won't be around to defend him. Eddie doesn't necessarily need a savior, but Big Bill is the only one Richie listens to and they all know it.

Sure enough, Richie opens his mouth, and Eddie thinks _this is it_ , sure he's about to be called a sissy and left in the dust.

Instead, Richie reaches out and cups his hand around Eddie's, and says "Together?"

Eddie hasn't held anyone's hand since the year before, when it was determined that boys weren't supposed to touch other boys and girls were gross, which left no one for him to lace his fingers with. He had grown up holding Bill's hand, who was used to having his hand gripped by Georgie and never seemed to mind. But then a fifth grader had called them 'faggots', and Eddie didn't even really know what that meant, but Bill had gone all red and dropped Eddie's hand and never picked it up again.

Eddie realizes Richie's waiting for an answer, and it's probably the longest Richie has ever been quiet for. Eddie was right. Richie's not that bad, when his mouth is shut.

"Together," he finally agrees, and the smile Richie gives him is buck-toothed and blinding.

"One," Richie says, backing up several steps from the edge and pulling Eddie with him. "Two..."

"Three!" they shout in unison, and race ahead. Richie isn't tall by any means but Eddie is still small by comparison, and Richie tugs him forward by the hand with his longer strides. Eddie is almost grateful for it, not sure he would have made it to the edge without Richie's guidance.

The descent feels like it lasts both for a few seconds and for eternity. Free fall is terrifying, but his hand is still latched onto Richie's, and it tethers him, makes him feel like he isn't just lost in space. Their hands break apart upon impact with the water and Eddie forgot to plug his nose so he comes up coughing and snorting, but Bill swims over and pounds him on the back and praises him for making the leap, and he almost doesn't even think about how many germs he just ingested.

"Didn't think you had it in you!" Richie jeers, like Eddie would have had a choice with Richie's hand so firmly pulling him along. But he's still grinning at Eddie, right up until Bill splashes him in the face and incites war, with Stan and Bill and Eddie all teaming up on Richie, who laughs for the attention like a flower opening for sunlight.

His mother's warnings about the quarry are a faraway memory. He's going to have to take the long way home to let his hair dry, and he'll probably get a rash from something in the water and then he'll be trapped in the house for the rest of the summer, but it doesn't matter. He doesn't care. All he feels is cool water on his skin, and he feels warm sunshine on his face, and he feels happy in his heart.


End file.
